Demonstration of the PLM Birch Still with Sam Cooke and Anne Alexander

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Each run of the still requires the harvest of a cord of black birch saplings, branches, and wood; tightly bundled and loaded into the still box. The still is filled with a continuous supply of fresh, clean water, provided by the museum’s log pond. A fire underneath the stainless-steel pan will boil the water, and pressure-steam the birch for 48 hours. A hood collects the vaporized oils in the steam released from the birch. Copper coils are run through a tub of cold water, condensing the oil and water vapor. These are collected in a glass container at the base of the still. The best efforts at running the museum still have thus-far been able to produce about 1 quart of birch oil (also known as ‘spirits of wintergreen’) from the 128 cubic feet of birch saplings. At current, the still is run three times a year at various museum special events- including the Bark Peelers’ Festival in July.